Roleplaying game

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Chapter 1: Playing the Game
Chapter 1: Playing the Game
Explosive Success ()
The Explosive Success symbol  represents a particularly effective 
part of the character’s effort. In addition to counting as a  symbol, it 
gives the character a chance to generate even more symbols and add 
them to the check. See  under Step 6: Resolve Symbols of Kept Dice 
on page 14. Importantly, this symbol means that a character can po-
tentially succeed on tasks they otherwise could not hope to accomplish—
allowing grit and a bit of luck to overcome the odds, as it often does in 
fictional samurai dramas.
Opportunity ()
The Opportunity symbol () represents secondary options available 
to the character thanks to the check. It does not contribute directly to 
success, but it lets the character do or notice something useful that is 
unrelated to their goal at the outset, or enhance their success with an ad-
ditional effect or story detail.
Strife ()
The Strife symbol (), a stylized single cherry blossom petal, repre-
sents an upwelling of emotion within the character. This emotion can be 
positive, negative, or neutral, but the more it accumulates, the harder it 
becomes to maintain the decorum expected of a samurai. Samurai drama 
as a fictional genre is often defined not by the external battle, but by the 
wars characters must wage within themselves. Strife does not affect suc-
cess or failure on the check but instead accumulates, causing the character 
to grow more and more emotional until they can calm themself or reach a 
tipping point at which they can no longer suppress their emotions fully.
Making a Check
To make a check, a player constructs a dice pool that consists of Ring 
and Skill dice, rolls the pool, selects a number of dice up to the character’s 
ring value to keep, and then resolves the positive and negative effects of 
the symbols on all kept dice. 
Fundamentally, a check always results in one of two outcomes: success 
or failure. It also may include outcomes such as strife and opportunity.
When to Ask for a Check
The GM gets to decide when it’s worthwhile for a character to make a 
check. As a rule of thumb, ask yourself the following questions:
•  Could the character fail?
•  Could they possibly succeed?
•  Are the consequences of success different from the consequences 
of failure?
•  Are the consequences of success and failure both interesting?
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, don’t have the character 
make a check. They can either simply succeed at their action or fail at it, 
and you should work with the player to narrate the results in the story. 
Alternatively, the task may not be one that fits within the scope of the 
story, and you should help direct the player to a more suitable effort—
ideally, one that still uses their core idea but is adjusted in such a way that 
it fits better in the narrative you are weaving together. And occasionally, 
you just need to say no to a particular idea and move on.
A check is resolved by the following six steps:
Step 1: Declare Intention
When a player declares that their character is attempting a task with 
dramatic stakes where failure is a possibility, the GM may call upon that 
player to make a check. The intention behind the check should be 
made clear: whether the character is undertaking a task in the narrative, 
performing an Action within the framework of a conflict, pursuing a 
downtime activity between scenes, or trying to resist a negative effect, the 
player describes what they want their character to achieve if they succeed 
at the check. The outcome of the check determines whether or not the 
character succeeds in achieving their intended objective, and whether any 
complications or other narrative results arise in the process.
The GM performs these and all following steps for non-
player characters.
Who’s in Charge Here?
Many roleplaying games rest on the general conceit that “what the 
game master says goes,” and Legend of the Five Rings is no exception. 
This is mostly for the sake of expedience: the story will flow better 
if the players generally accept the facts that the GM is establishing. 
If they don’t, the game tends to bog down in arguments of minutiae 
about the fracturing point of steel or what Rokugani samurai are and 
aren’t allowed to eat.
The roleplaying game social contract thus revolves around the idea 
that the players give the game master the benefit of the doubt on most 
matters of setting the scene and story (the GM’s job is hard, after all). 
This isn’t to say that there can never be any discussion, but if the GM 
shoots down an idea or wants to stick to a point, the players should 
accept it and move on. In turn, the GM should give the players’ ideas 
fair consideration. The GM gets to approve the players’ ideas at the 
GM’s discretion and determines what happens when the results of a 
situation are indeterminate or fly in the face of common sense. With 
that said, cool, exciting, or dramatic ideas should be encouraged, so 
long as everyone is getting their turn in the spotlight. Remember, ev-
eryone is there to have fun (including the GM).
If someone isn’t comfortable with something going on in the story, 
that’s another matter entirely. Players should feel free to tell the GM if 
something in the story is making them uncomfortable, and vice versa, 
and it can be a good idea to establish a set of signals beforehand to 
clearly indicate when such concerns arise. Many excellent resources 
about establishing and respecting boundaries in one’s roleplaying 
games can be found in books on the subject and online, and reading a 
bit about this subject before running or playing in your first roleplay-
ing game is a good idea!
Targeting and Checks
Sometimes, a check affects one or more characters other than the 
character performing the check. These characters are considered 
targets of that check.

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